Urban African American youth evidence high levels of HIV/STI risk behavior, high rates of STIs, and may represent a continuing pool of new HIV infections among heterosexual African Americans. HIV/STI infections are concentrated among those living in low-income urban environments. Although HIV/STI prevention efforts with adolescents have been modestly successful, new directions have been advocated that include basic and prevention research that is more ecologically, developmentally, and gender focused. In the proposed study, we will draw on an ecological-cognitive framework in examining potential relationships among gender ideologies (e.g., beliefs concerning masculine and feminine roles) and the social, cognitive and behavioral aspects of sexuality in relation to broader social/developmental factors relevant to the low-income neighborhood context of heterosexual African Americans during middle adolescence (15-17 years of age). We will examine differences in these relationships in sexually experienced and non-experienced youth in low-income neighborhoods, both within and across two large US urban centers (Chicago and San Francisco). Further, within an ecological-cognitive framework, our goal is to identify risk-relevant gender-related beliefs and their antecedents that may be amenable to and acceptable for HIV prevention in this population. We propose a three phase qualitative investigation. In Phase I (n = 100) we will identify relationships among social/developmental factors (e.g., adult role expectations, partner availability;socialization experiences), gender beliefs, and cognitive, behavioral, social, and health aspects of sexuality relevant to HIV/STI risk. Phase II (n = 100) will further develop an in-depth understanding of promising themes and pathways identified in Phase I, particularly those with components that may be amenable to intervention. The final phase of the study will focus on assessing the acceptability of intervening on specific beliefs (and/or population segments) and identifying acceptable intervention approaches. The proposed qualitative study will provide important theoretical advances in addressing gender ideologies and other social/developmental factors that impact HIV related sexual behavior in low-income urban communities and will develop the basic structure for an innovative gender informed HIV intervention to address these issues in urban African American youth. The long-term goal of this work is to develop and rigorously test gender informed HIV interventions for this vulnerable population. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Urban African American youth evidence high levels of HIV/STI risk behavior, high rates of STIs, and may represent a continuing pool of new HIV infections among heterosexual African Americans. HIV/STI infections are concentrated among those living in low-income urban environments. Although HIV/STI prevention efforts with adolescents have been modestly successful, more work is needed. The proposed study will take a broad approach to understanding the ecological, developmental, and gender related factors that influence sexual risk-taking among African American adolescents (15-17 years old) living in poor neighborhoods in two US AIDS epicenters. The proposed study will contribute to theoretical and intervention development for this vulnerable population.